The European Commission (EC) proposed some adjustments to the existing safeguard measures for steel product imports in Europe to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on August 14, Fastmarkets has learned.
The definitive safeguard mechanism already in place increases the level of tariff-free quotas for each product category by 5% annually. The first liberalization took place on July 1, 2019, which was the end of the first quota period.However, steel import volumes continued to rise in 2018 and after the safeguards were implemented so the EC decided to lower the liberalization to a 3% pace for the second period of the measures, increasing by 3% for the third period. The existing quota level set for the majority of steel products did not unduly restrict trade flows and ensured traditional trade flows were maintained in the EU. Nevertheless, the EC made some adjustments to existing measures for specific product categories such as hot-rolled coil (category 1), metallic-coated sheets (category 4) and large welded tubes (category 25).Definitive measures in the safeguard case were set for a period of three years in February in the form...